First LR Cure Questions

[cmatt3]

I have been reading a lot about curing live rock and I just wanted some opinions and advice from all of your experience. I am going to put 100 lbs of live rock into my new 75 gallon tank. Since I can't afford curred rock I am going to buy un-cured and do it myself. Since it is my first addition I was going to add it with about 60 lbs of live sand and cure it all together in the tank. Sould I do this? or would you all recommend using a seperate container (do I lose a lot of the hitchhikers if everything is cured in a separate container?) How bad is the smell if done in the tank? It is going to be in our living room, and my wife is being a good sport about it and says she won't mind the smell, but I don't want to get her mad at me prior to the hobby actually starting (I'm sure I'll do pleanty of things in the coming years to earn that). Also if I cure in the tank should I have the rock possitioned in its desired location prior to begining the cure? (ie. initial debridement of dead material, position rock in tank and leave it there for good, or will I need to move the rocks during the cure to brush off dead material?) Also how hard do you "scrub" the rock at first? Do I want to remove EVERYTHING on the external surface? or just what easily comes off?
I know this is a lot of questions but this forum has really helped with my planning
Thanks

 

[devilboy]

Originally Posted by cmatt3
I have been reading a lot about curing live rock and I just wanted some opinions and advice from all of your experience. I am going to put 100 lbs of live rock into my new 75 gallon tank. Since I can't afford curred rock I am going to buy un-cured and do it myself. Since it is my first addition I was going to add it with about 60 lbs of live sand and cure it all together in the tank. Sould I do this? or would you all recommend using a seperate container (do I lose a lot of the hitchhikers if everything is cured in a separate container?) How bad is the smell if done in the tank? It is going to be in our living room, and my wife is being a good sport about it and says she won't mind the smell, but I don't want to get her mad at me prior to the hobby actually starting (I'm sure I'll do pleanty of things in the coming years to earn that). Also if I cure in the tank should I have the rock possitioned in its desired location prior to begining the cure? (ie. initial debridement of dead material, position rock in tank and leave it there for good, or will I need to move the rocks during the cure to brush off dead material?) Also how hard do you "scrub" the rock at first? Do I want to remove EVERYTHING on the external surface? or just what easily comes off?
I know this is a lot of questions but this forum has really helped with my planning
Thanks
good questions and i will answer some of them for you:
1. i would not add the sand to the tank while curing your rock. you will have to siphon out alot of the detritus and u dont want to shipon up the sand also.
2. if you do frequent water changes you will be able to keep the ammonia down to a minium and you will be able to keep some of the hitch hikers.
3. Honestly!! it smells horrible... i would rather smell a babys dirty diaper... sorry!
4. i would not position the rock when curing, you will have to move them alot to scrub of the decaying material from the rocks, which you can siphon out. you will not tons of water flow and a good strong skimmer while curing the rock.
5. when you first get the rock have some premixed saltwater ready, i used 2 5g buckets, one bucket i used a toothbrush to scrub the decaying material off the surface of the rocks. u can see this by the blackness. you can even use tweezers if you wish. then the 2nd bucket i used for a good swishing....
i hope this helps